Proverbs 14:12
P: There is a way that seems right to a man,
C: but its end is the way to death.
Do we ever think that our thoughts or our actions will actually bring death?
--death upon ourselves
or death upon others?
I’d imagine,
we don’t live in a community
were we are planning to bring death upon others.
Sure we might have some grudges
but killing attempts don’t seem to be the common conversations that people seem to be having.
Sure even political conversations can be heated
but generally,
most people don’t seem to wish death upon someone
… nor do people seem to wish death upon themselves.
But Proverbs 14:12 reminds us,
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
Well good thing we aren’t spending time with criminal organizations
with people who plan to use death as a mean for gain.
As the saying goes,
“live by the sword, die by the sword.”
We don’t want to be murdered
so we aren’t going to murder others.
It seems that in our community
murder is generally considered unacceptable.
And Christians enjoy teaching
do unto others
as you would have others do unto you.
These things sound good and noble.
But,
when difficult times come
it seems being good and noble is quite a challenge.
The Book of Proverbs also reminds us that God pours his wisdom into the streets.
God shares his words freely for everyone to hear and yet
not everyone wants what is good.
They are so captivated and driven by their sinful nature
that there is no room for Jesus to take root.
And this drive is more than a desire that comes from hanging around the wrong group of people
it’s something so deep in our corrupt nature
that as Peter says
it wages war on our soul.
The sinful nature desires the ways of death.
It desires for us to live like fools.
God’s Word says repent
and our sinful nature says,
“I won’t.”
“I can outsmart God’s ways.”
And we refuse to listen.
The God who created this world
pours his good knowledge and wisdom into our lives
and we laugh.
And we ignore his counsel.
So then the blame is off of God.
For, it’s not like he didn’t try.
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
Jesus
on one Thursday night
2000 years ago
was preparing himself to be rejected.
Jesus has shared God’s displeasure with people manipulating things that had intended for good
and using it for selfish gain.
And as he was praying
people were planning to bring Jesus to death
so that they could gain order and leadership in Israel
and not have Jesus be disrupting their sinful agenda.
They were so determined
they used one of Jesus’ closest disciples
to reveal where Jesus was at
and have him be arrested.
Yes,
even those who were closest to Jesus
rejected the good and loving knowledge and wisdom Jesus poured into him.
Jesus being captured,
the disciples move from being faithful disciples
to becoming runaways.
They go into hiding
thinking that everything Jesus had taught them
no longer has lifesaving value.
They go into hiding
trying to save their lives as if
their own strength and might could save them from death.
Even when someone calls them out for being a disciple of Jesus,
especially Peter,
he denies it.
Those who have been given the authority to keep order in the land mock Jesus.
If Jesus is so great
then how is it that he has been captured?
And they mock all the things he ever said and did.
Jesus never fully revealed himself to the whole world at the time
not even the disciples.
He new no one could handle the full truth.
No one could handle
that Jesus is God in the flesh.
For the people wanted a God
who would be a military leader.
Not someone who is walking around as some miracle guru.
But as Jesus was under arrest
and as a group of Jewish leaders demanded Jesus reveal who he is,
Jesus quoted scripture.
Jesus quoted the prophecy of what God said he was going to.
And Jesus said that
…he is the guy
He is the one who will fulfill the coming prophecy
of one day
putting all things under his order
where judgment will happen
where sin will be punished.
These Jewish leaders used all their scholarly wisdom
to determine for themselves
… that Jesus was a hoax.
So they bring Jesus to Pilate
claiming to be a king.
They twist Jesus words
to make it sound like Jesus is beginning a new political revolution.
So Pilate questions Jesus
to see what’s going on.
He finds no guilt in Jesus.
Herod and his people mock Jesus,
but they find no reason to charge him with disturbing the Roman peace.
But the Jewish leaders us their words
to demand Jesus to be executed.
And so in keeping the peace
Pilot follows through.
People cry for Jesus
when they seem him being escorted to his execution,
but Jesus tells them
to save their tears for them and their children
for struggling times will come ahead.
The rejection of Jesus doesn’t stop.
As Jesus is hanging on the cross alongside two criminals,
the soldiers mock him
and so does one of the criminals.
But the other criminal recognizes what’s going on.
He recognizes his ways have justly lead him to death,
but Jesus is indeed an innocent man.
And in his humility,
in his recognizing his complete powerlessness
… he asks Jesus to remember him when he goes into his kingdom.
The repentant criminal wants to be with Jesus.
And Jesus says to him,
“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
As Proverbs 1:33 says,
but whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.
As Jesus takes his last breath and dies
the sky gets dark
the curtain in the temple tears into two
and a centurion praises God saying,
“Certainly this man was innocent!”
And may who were watching were grieving.
Joseph,
who was a Jewish leader who was fond of Jesus
let Jesus be buried in his tomb.
Jesus stayed innocent
up to his very last breath.
He followed the will of God.
And on the cross
Jesus took on our sin, our ways that brought death
so that we could forever live with him.
By his wounds,
you are healed.
